1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to training aids for swimmers and, more particularly, to training paddles used to increase the water's resistance to a swimmer's hand strokes for strengthening a swimmer's arms and shoulders.
2. Description of the Related Art
A swimmer is propelled forward through the water by, in part, pulling the water with his or her hands. As is true in most forms of exercise, the amount of effort a participant must exert depends upon the amount of resistance to be overcome; the greater the resistance, the greater the force that must be applied, and the stronger the participant's muscles become.
One well-known method of increasing the resistance to a swimmer's hand strokes is the use of hand paddles worn on a swimmer's hands. Hand paddles have long been used to increase stroke strength and to enhance endurance. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 183,045 to Dunlop, issued in 1876, discloses a generally elliptical swimming paddle, or “hand-plate” formed of wood; a user places his or her palm against the top surface of the plate, and a strap extends about the top of the user's hand to secure the paddle against the user's palm.
Other forms of swimming paddles are known in the art, such as the generally rectangular-shaped paddles disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,621,693 to Theobold, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,042 to Montrella. While most of such paddles are unitary and rigid, other swimming paddles include hinged members, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,017,463 to Komadina. In most instances, straps, rubber tubes, or belts are used to secure the paddle to the user's hand; in other instances, the paddle includes slots through which the user inserts his or her hands and fingers, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,109,429 to Malm. Such swimming paddles may be generally solid, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,555,969 to Holcombe, or include apertures and/or perforations, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,418 to Schlueter and Johnson, and in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,998, for selectively reducing resistance to the passage of water at selected locations, and/or to provide the user with a “feel for the water”.
In designing a swimming paddle, one must be careful to apply increased resistance to the swimmer's arms and shoulders in a manner that avoids injury. Competitive swimmers commonly suffer shoulder injuries, particularly, problems with the rotator cuff, and swimming paddles that increase resistance to a swimmers's hand stroke can also potentially increase the risk of injury to the swimmer's shoulder if not used in a progressive built-up manner.
When a swimmer is swimming normally without the use of paddles, the swimmer's forwardly-extended hand and fingers “catch” the water as the swimmer's hand first enters the water. Training paddles have been produced in a variety of sizes, some being barely larger than the user's hand, and others being significantly larger than the user's hand to increase training resistance. One difficulty which typically arises with the use of larger-sized paddles is that it is more difficult for the user to “catch” the water at the beginning of each stroke. Instead of the top end of the paddle digging into, and catching, the surface of the water (the way that the cupped fingers of a user's hand would do), the top end of the paddle tends to plane forward along the surface of the water, creating an unnatural motion in the user's stroke.
Moreover, most training paddles are generally flat, while a swimmer's palm would normally assume a cupped shape as the swimmer starts each hand stroke. Accordingly, known paddles generally fail to conform to the user's palm in use, creating an unnatural feel for the user.
In addition, many of the known varieties of swimming paddles may work in a satisfactory manner for some types of swimming strokes, but not for others. For example, many known paddles perform reasonably well for freestyle and breaststroke, but are awkward for use during backstroke and/or butterfly training.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved swimming paddle that increases a swimmer's arm strength and endurance without placing excessive resistance on the rotator cuff joint within the user's shoulder as might cause injury to the user's shoulder.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a swimming paddle that allows the user to achieve a better “feel” for the water, and which more closely simulates the swimmer's feel for the water during those times when no swimming paddle is used, instead of desensitizing the palm and fingers to the subtle changes in water pressure encountered during the stroke.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a swimming paddle which more closely conforms to the shape of the user's palm as when swimming without a training paddle, thereby heightening the user's feel for the water during each stroke.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a swimming paddle that more securely positions the paddle upon the user's hand, thereby maintaining the paddle in its most effective and balanced position upon the user's hand.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide such a swimming paddle which allows a user to better “catch” the water at the start of each stroke, rather than planing forward as the tip of the paddle enters the water.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.